The national oil company Saudi Aramco has announced that it will float for public subscription shares in its planned five-billion-dollar oil refinery in Yanbu, the industrial city on the Red Sea. The refinery, to be established with the help of a foreign partner, will process 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Several American as well as European and Asian companies have expressed interest in the project, and Aramco is short-listing applications for its strategic partner; the selection will be made by the end of the third quarter of this year. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) will be offered from the shares of the joint-venture company to be formed.